Niggles: Do IP or copyright expires for games in general?. Is it at that point they effectively become "free" much like when copyright expires for books etc? (isnt there a 50 year maximum rule ?)
Nethack one of the best original roguelikes..and free :D
amok: each country have different laws, but generally the same the same rules apply to games as other creative products.
not entirely true - copyright expiration is not hand in hand with "public domain". in certain territories (for example) while the copyright of the original holder may expire (an / or that of their estate), there is a re-appliction period to prevent others from misusing it or using it for profit (as many public domain works already are), but also to prevent corporate misuse (such as with the works of R.E Howard in that last Conan film - unfortunately both he and the film were US produced, so fuck-all could be done).
Source: Copyright lawyers fear me.
